American Masters

An ongoing series of award-winning primetime specials examining the lives, works, and creative processes of our most outstanding cultural artists. Created in 1984, the series is both a celebration and an exploration of creativity in America, documenting the role important individuals, groups, and movements have played in the formation of our cultural identity.

American Masters Previous Broadcasts

Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel (Episode #2503H)

KQED Plus: Thu, Oct 4, 2012 -- 7:00 PM

No ordinary writer and no ordinary woman --"Gone with the Wind" created two of the world's greatest lovers, Scarlett and Rhett, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and has sold more than 30 million copies. Born into Atlanta's upper crust in 1900, Margaret Mitchell challenged stifling social restrictions at every turn. A charismatic force to be reckoned with, she had a great sense of humor, was one of Georgia's first newspaper women and was extremely generous with the money she made from "Gone with the Wind." She struggled with the changing role of women and the liberation of African Americans but also suffered from lifelong bouts of depression, until a tragic accident lead to her death in 1949. This film examines the amazing endurance of "Gone with the Wind" and reveals the seminal events of Mitchell's life through dramatic re-enactments based on her letters, as scenes from the movie weave together her life and her work.

Repeat Broadcasts:

KQED Plus: Fri, Oct 5, 2012 -- 1:00 AM

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (Episode #2207)

KQED Plus: Tue, Oct 2, 2012 -- 4:30 AM

The author of Little Women is an almost universally recognized name. Her reputation as a morally upstanding New England spinster, reflecting the conventional propriety of late 19th-century Concord, is firmly established. However, raised among reformers and Transcendentalists and skeptics, the intellectual protege of Emerson and Hawthorne and Thoreau, Alcott was actually a free thinker with democratic ideals and progressive values about women -- a worldly careerist of sorts. Most surprising is that she led, under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard, a literary double life, undiscovered until the 1940s. As Barnard, Alcott penned scandalous, sensational works with characters running the gamut from murderers and revolutionaries to cross-dressers and opium addicts -- a far cry from her familiar fatherly mentors, courageous mothers and appropriately impish children.

Harper Lee: Hey Boo (Episode #2504H)

KQED Plus: Tue, Oct 2, 2012 -- 3:00 AM

Reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" has been a national pastime for five decades - it is still selling nearly a million copies a year, its classic popularity and power are a common reference. And the courtroom image of Gregory Peck, as the passionate Atticus Finch, gave us an enduring picture for the novel's message. Behind it all was a young Southern girl named Nelle Harper Lee, who once said she wanted to be Alabama's Jane Austen. This program explores her life and unravels its mysteries, particularly why she never published again. Illuminated with family photos, revealing personal letters and an exclusive interview with her sister, Alice Finch Lee (100 years old), the film is steeped in the texture of the novel's Deep South and the social changes it inspired. Tom Brokaw, Rosanne Cash, Anna Quindlen, Scott Turow, Oprah Winfrey and Andrew Young reflect on how "Mockingbird" shaped their lives.

Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel (Episode #2503H)

KQED Plus: Tue, Oct 2, 2012 -- 2:00 AM

No ordinary writer and no ordinary woman --"Gone with the Wind" created two of the world's greatest lovers, Scarlett and Rhett, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and has sold more than 30 million copies. Born into Atlanta's upper crust in 1900, Margaret Mitchell challenged stifling social restrictions at every turn. A charismatic force to be reckoned with, she had a great sense of humor, was one of Georgia's first newspaper women and was extremely generous with the money she made from "Gone with the Wind." She struggled with the changing role of women and the liberation of African Americans but also suffered from lifelong bouts of depression, until a tragic accident lead to her death in 1949. This film examines the amazing endurance of "Gone with the Wind" and reveals the seminal events of Mitchell's life through dramatic re-enactments based on her letters, as scenes from the movie weave together her life and her work.

Repeat Broadcasts:

KQED Plus: Fri, Oct 5, 2012 -- 1:00 AM

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women (Episode #2207)

KQED Plus: Mon, Oct 1, 2012 -- 10:30 PM

The author of Little Women is an almost universally recognized name. Her reputation as a morally upstanding New England spinster, reflecting the conventional propriety of late 19th-century Concord, is firmly established. However, raised among reformers and Transcendentalists and skeptics, the intellectual protege of Emerson and Hawthorne and Thoreau, Alcott was actually a free thinker with democratic ideals and progressive values about women -- a worldly careerist of sorts. Most surprising is that she led, under the pseudonym A.M. Barnard, a literary double life, undiscovered until the 1940s. As Barnard, Alcott penned scandalous, sensational works with characters running the gamut from murderers and revolutionaries to cross-dressers and opium addicts -- a far cry from her familiar fatherly mentors, courageous mothers and appropriately impish children.

Harper Lee: Hey Boo (Episode #2504H)

KQED Plus: Mon, Oct 1, 2012 -- 9:00 PM

Reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" has been a national pastime for five decades - it is still selling nearly a million copies a year, its classic popularity and power are a common reference. And the courtroom image of Gregory Peck, as the passionate Atticus Finch, gave us an enduring picture for the novel's message. Behind it all was a young Southern girl named Nelle Harper Lee, who once said she wanted to be Alabama's Jane Austen. This program explores her life and unravels its mysteries, particularly why she never published again. Illuminated with family photos, revealing personal letters and an exclusive interview with her sister, Alice Finch Lee (100 years old), the film is steeped in the texture of the novel's Deep South and the social changes it inspired. Tom Brokaw, Rosanne Cash, Anna Quindlen, Scott Turow, Oprah Winfrey and Andrew Young reflect on how "Mockingbird" shaped their lives.

Margaret Mitchell: American Rebel (Episode #2503H)

KQED Plus: Mon, Oct 1, 2012 -- 8:00 PM

No ordinary writer and no ordinary woman --"Gone with the Wind" created two of the world's greatest lovers, Scarlett and Rhett, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1937 and has sold more than 30 million copies. Born into Atlanta's upper crust in 1900, Margaret Mitchell challenged stifling social restrictions at every turn. A charismatic force to be reckoned with, she had a great sense of humor, was one of Georgia's first newspaper women and was extremely generous with the money she made from "Gone with the Wind." She struggled with the changing role of women and the liberation of African Americans but also suffered from lifelong bouts of depression, until a tragic accident lead to her death in 1949. This film examines the amazing endurance of "Gone with the Wind" and reveals the seminal events of Mitchell's life through dramatic re-enactments based on her letters, as scenes from the movie weave together her life and her work.

TV Technical Issues

TV Technical Issues

(DT25-1 through 25-3) Another station on Fremont Tower needs to perform more maintenance work overnight, requiring other TV
stations to shut down their signals for the safety of the workers. KQET’s signal will turn off late Thurs/early Friday
between midnight and 12:30am, and should return by 6am Friday morning. Many receivers will be able to […]

(DT25-1 through 25-3) Another station on Fremont Tower needs to perform maintenance work overnight, requiring that other TV
stations shut down their signals for the safety of the workers. KQET’s signal will turn off late Tues/early Wednesday
between midnight and 12:30am, and should return by 5am Wednesday morning. Many receivers will be able to recover […]

(DT54.1 through DT54.5) Our Over the Air signals from our KQEH transmitter on Monument Peak (the DT54s) will need to be switched
from our Main antenna to our Auxillary antenna while climbers inspect the tower for possible maintenance needs. Once the inspection
is done, we will switch back. The two switches will account for two […]